By Liz Lee and Kate Abnett
BEIJING/BRUSSELS (Reuters) -Chinese officials have told the European Union the country will produce a new national plan to tackle climate change in the autumn, the European Commission’s green chief Teresa Ribera said on Monday.
China and the EU each missed a February deadline to submit new national climate change targets to the United Nations, which set out how much a country will cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 2035 – and will be used to assess global progress towards averting disastrous levels of warming.
Speaking to reporters after talks with Chinese officials in Beijing, Ribera said both sides were working on their targets, known as nationally determined contributions, ahead of the U.N. COP30 climate summit in November.
“They have committed to an NDC that is comprehensive in terms of the whole economy being under the scope, taking into consideration all greenhouse gases,” said Teresa Ribera, who oversees the EU’s climate policies.
“They will come up, later on, with their concrete update during the fall,” she said.
China’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a comment request on the timeline. President Xi Jinping said in April China would announce its new goal before COP30, without specifying a date.
COP30 summit host Brazil has sought to persuade major economies to set ambitious targets – and reaffirm their commitment to tackle climate change, despite U.S. President Donald Trump pulling his country out of global climate talks and cutting U.S. support for clean energy.
So far, most nations have still not announced their new climate plans.
The EU this month proposed a 2040 climate target, which will now be negotiated by its 27 member countries and the European Parliament. The EU has yet to confirm its 2035 climate goal.
(Reporting by Liz Lee, Kate Abnett; Writing by Ethan Wang; Editing by Kirsten Donovan and Alison Williams)
